“What? It’s raining. I think we’re good to stay in bed for the day.”
“And do nothing?”
“Well…” He traced his pecs. “I have some ideas…”
Damian’s eyes widened a bit. “Oh… ok… We’ve just…”
“Exhausted?”
“Let me catch my breath… I could go for hours on stuff… not sure I could now.”
Gabe stroked his cheek. “Ok, fine. Let me get some food. Stoke the fire up? We have some moss and seaweed, and a couple of those bananas.”
They put the bananas on the fire, listening to the rain, watching the flames.
Gabe looked at Damian. “How was she?”
He raised his eyes. “Who?”
“Maddie…”
Damian’s face flinched. “You want to know? Christ…”
“Why not? She’s your wife.”
“Probably was… a happy widow…”
“So?”
He gave in, sighing. “Fine. Average height, a decent body, and lately, short blonde hair in large curls.”
“Her personality, maybe?”
Damian’s words got caught a bit. “Uh… I mean, she was… just your average wife. Cared for the house, the kids. We fought a lot lately… before my last trip, and I am not sure where it would have ended up… I mean, nowhere, I guess. Married and tolerating each other. Just as we’ve done after Kevin’s birth.”
“Sad.”
Damian’s lips pursed up. “Judging? There’s no place for divorce in such a marriage. Too much money and press. Maddie knew her role. Wide smiles and picture perfect poses for the papers.”
“Did you love her?”
Damian mused, trying to conjure his feelings, the ones he had had before that tidal wave of hate fed by his addiction. “I think I had… at the beginning. I might have… I can’t remember lately.”
“She was miserable then…”
Damian shrugged and took the bananas off the flames, offering a plate to Gabe. “I don’t know. She had an endless amount of money to spend. I never said a word about any of her purchases, and sometimes they were insane. I figured she could buy whatever she wanted as long as she didn’t get on my nerves… but I was wrong, because she did… maybe I made it so… Her friends envied her to the bone.” He laughed at the memory. “And I made sure to feed that like liquid fire. I made a show of giving her presents in public, or when they were there, just to see their faces.”
Gabe swallowed that warm bite of sweet mush. “What a jerk…”
“Thanks. Yeah, that’s what you wanted to know?”
“I’m not sure now…”
“I’ll spare you the rest. It’s not pretty.”
“Why? Why this torture?”
Damian shrugged, his eyes lost to the flames. “It made me feel good. After a while, she needed it too. That madness. The fights which ended up usually in a make-up fuck. Not pretty.”
